Workflow & Approvals

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#Why some actions need approval

Approvals exist so that no single person can move money, change someone's pay, or commit the company without a second set of eyes. This is a core financial and HR control.

When you submit an action that needs approval, ApixONN does three things automatically:

1. Freezes the record in a "pending" state. Nothing happens yet — a payment isn't paid, a contract isn't ended, a leave isn't booked.
2. Routes the request to the right approver, step by step, following the approval chain your administrator set up for that kind of request. A step can go to the requester's manager, to anyone with a role (such as Finance Manager), to a specific person, to the department head, or to the project's manager. See Setting up approval chains.
3. Notifies that approver and drops the item into their Workflow Inbox.

Only after the last required approver says "yes" does the action actually take effect.

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#The Workflow Inbox — where approvals actually live

Where to find it: Sidebar → Workflow Inbox

This is the one place pending approvals appear. If an item is waiting for your decision, it's here — and nowhere else.

#What you can do here

• See every work item currently assigned to you for approval.
• Switch between Pending items (awaiting your decision) and Completed items (already decided).
• Search by title, description, or requester.
• Filter by workflow type or priority (High / Normal / Low).
• See each item's progress — which step it's on (e.g. "Step 1 of 2") and who has already approved.
• Approve or Reject an item, with a comment.
• View the full details and history of an item before deciding.

#Reading a work-item card

Each card shows you, at a glance:

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#The golden rule: you can only approve items assigned to you

This trips people up constantly, so it's worth stating plainly:

Your Workflow Inbox only ever shows items routed to you. You cannot see, open, or approve an item that was routed to someone else — and there is no exception for senior roles. Even a Super Admin cannot approve an item assigned to another person. The system checks, on every approval, that the item belongs to the person clicking the button.

Why it works this way:

• Each step is routed to a specific person: the requester's manager, a person holding the step's role, a named person, the department head, or the project's manager. If a step says "Finance Manager approves," it goes to a user who holds the Finance Manager role — not to you, unless that's you.
• Separation of duties means the approver must be a different, specific person, so authority can't be bypassed by whoever happens to be an admin.

What this means in practice:

• If your inbox is empty, nothing is waiting on you — even if a colleague is stuck waiting for an approval on something you care about.
• If a request is stuck because the assigned approver is unavailable, the fix is a delegation (Settings → Delegations) or automatic escalation (see FAQ), not "an admin approves it instead."

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#How to approve an item

1. Go to Sidebar → Workflow Inbox.
2. Make sure you're on the Pending tab.
3. Find the item (use search or the Type / Priority filters if the list is long).
4. Click View to review the full request and its history (recommended for anything significant).
5. Click the green Approve button on the item.
6. In the pop-up, optionally type a note in the comments box ("Add any comments or notes…").
7. Click Approve to confirm.

The item moves out of your Pending list. If it was the last step, the underlying record now completes (see "What happens after the final approval"). If more steps remain, it automatically routes to the next approver.

#How to reject an item

1. Open Workflow Inbox → Pending.
2. Find the item and click the red Reject button.
3. In the pop-up, type a clear reason in the text box. A reason of at least 10 characters is required — the Confirm button stays disabled until you provide one.
4. Click Confirm Rejection.

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#How to know an approval is waiting for you

You'll find out in two places:

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#The big picture: what triggers approval, who approves, and where it goes

This is the master reference. Every action below, when submitted, creates work items that appear only in the assigned approver's Workflow Inbox, step by step. Approvers are matched by role; where a step says "Manager," the system routes to the requester's own line manager.

#Projects & milestones

#HR & people

| Action you submit | Approval workflow | Step 1 | Step 2 | Step 3 | Step 4 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Leave request, up to 5 days | Leave Request Approval | Your Manager | HR | — | — | | Leave request, over 5 days | Leave Request Approval (Extended) | Your Manager | Department Head | HR | — | | Contract renewal | Contract Renewal | Manager | HR Manager | — | — | | Salary amendment | Salary Amendment Approval | Manager | HR Manager | CFO | — | | Grade change / promotion | Grade Change Approval | Manager | HR Manager | — | — | | Contract termination | Contract Termination | Manager | HR Director | CEO | — | | Promotion request | Employee Promotion | Manager | Department Head | HR Director | CEO | | Performance evaluation | Performance Evaluation | Manager | HR Manager | — | — | | Uploaded document verification | Document Verification | HR | — | — | — |

#Finance & payroll

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#What happens after the final approval

Once the last required approver approves, ApixONN completes the underlying action automatically. You don't have to go back and "finish" it. Examples:

If instead the request is rejected at any step, the record is marked rejected (or, for milestones, returned to in progress so it can be reworked and re-submitted), and the requester is notified.

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#Statuses

Work items in your inbox carry one of these statuses:

An item may also be flagged Overdue (red) if it passed its response deadline while still pending.

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#Setting up approval chains (Settings → Workflows)

Where to find it: Sidebar → Settings → Workflows. The page is called Approval workflows.

This is where an administrator decides who approves each kind of request. You don't build workflows from scratch: the page lists every process the system sends for approval, and for each one you build its approval chain step by step. Approvals then arrive in each approver's Workflow Inbox.

#The processes you can set up

The processes are grouped by area. Each card says when the process starts (for example "An employee submits a leave request."), shows its current chain in plain words (for example "The requester's direct manager → Anyone with the role HR Manager"), and carries a badge: Active or Not set up.

At the bottom of the page, a collapsed list of ready-made workflows that no screen uses yet holds preset workflows that nothing starts. They're marked Not used and never run, so you can ignore them.

Screenshot

Settings → Workflows — the Approval workflows page, processes grouped by area, one card showing "Not set up"

#How to set up or change an approval chain

1. Go to Sidebar → Settings → Workflows.
2. On the process's card, click Set up approval (if it isn't set up yet) or Change approvers.
3. Under Who approves, choose who approves the first step (see the table below).
4. Click + Add a step for each further step, up to 10. Use ↑ and ↓ to reorder steps and ✕ to remove one. At least one step is needed.
5. Optionally, give each step:
   • a Step name (a sensible name is filled in for you, such as "Direct manager approval"),
   • an Escalate if not decided within (hours) deadline,
   • a Note to the approver (optional), for example "Check the team calendar before approving".
6. Check the summary line under the steps. It reads Order: followed by your steps and → Approved.
7. Adjust the Options if needed (see below).
8. Click Set up approval (new) or Save approval (existing).

The request is approved when the last step approves, and it stops at the first rejection.

Who can approve a step

Screenshot

Change approvers — a two-step chain (Their manager → A role) with the "Order: … → Approved" line

#Options

To review a chain without changing it, click Details on its card. The details page lists Who approves, in order and the Options in plain words.

#Removing an approval chain

There's no delete button. A process that the system uses needs an approval chain, so it can't be deleted. If you no longer want a particular person or role to approve it, click Change approvers and change who approves it instead.

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#Tips & FAQ

"I submitted something but nothing happened — where did it go?" It's waiting for an approver. Nothing takes effect until it's approved. The item is in the assigned approver's Workflow Inbox, not yours and not on the record's page. Check the record's status — it should read pending — and check your Notifications for a confirmation that it was submitted.

"Who approves my request?" It depends on the action — see the big table above. As a rule of thumb: most HR requests (leave, renewals, salary, promotions) start with your line manager, then HR. Most finance and milestone items start with the relevant manager (Project Manager or Finance Manager) and climb to senior finance/executive roles as the amount grows.

"I can't find the approval in my inbox — I'm sure it's mine." Three checks: (1) You're on the Pending tab, not Completed. (2) The item is genuinely routed to your role at the current step — if it's still on an earlier step handled by someone else, it won't reach you until they approve. (3) You actually hold the role the step requires. If all three are true and it's still missing, ask your administrator to confirm the workflow's routing.

"I'm a Super Admin (or Admin) — why can't I approve this?" Because it isn't assigned to you. Approval authority follows the specific person the step routed to, not your permission level. This is deliberate — it keeps separation of duties intact. If the assigned approver is unavailable, set up a delegation (Settings → Delegations) or rely on automatic escalation rather than expecting an admin override.

"The approver is on leave and the request is stuck." Set up a Delegation ahead of time under Settings → Delegations so someone else can act on the approver's behalf while they're away. Overdue items are also escalated automatically to a manager or admin. (On the work item itself the actions are Approve and Reject — reassignment is handled through delegations and escalation, not a button on the card.)

"I rejected by mistake — can I undo it?" No. Rejection halts the workflow and can't be reversed from the inbox. The requester needs to submit the action again, which starts a fresh approval from step 1.

"Why did my small invoice go through instantly but a bigger one didn't?" Amount thresholds. Invoices under the small threshold have no workflow and take effect immediately; larger amounts trigger multi-step approval. Same idea for milestone payments.

"Who sets up or changes these approval chains?" An administrator, under Sidebar → Settings → Workflows (see Setting up approval chains). If your company's steps differ from the tables above, that's expected — your administrator has customised them. The Workflow Inbox always reflects the real, current routing.

"I can't submit a request — no approval is set up for it." Every process that needs approval must have an approval chain before requests of that kind can be submitted. Ask your administrator to open Settings → Workflows and click Set up approval on that process.

"Can we delete an approval workflow we don't want?" No. A process the system uses needs an approval chain, so there's no delete button. Change who approves it instead, with Change approvers.

"What does the number on the Workflow Inbox menu mean?" It's how many items are waiting for you. Open the inbox and clear your Pending list.